The subject invention concerns an electronic locking system which is intended to serve as a theft-protection device.
In order to prevent unauthorized persons from gaining access to premises e.g. through a locked door, increasingly ingenious mechanical locks have been devised which are considerably more difficult to force or pick than locks of earlier types.
In order to avoid the problem of having to create mechanical locks fitted with more and more sophisticated lock combinations, electronic locking devices have been developed in recent years. Such systems are intended for and are used particularly in motor cars and other vehicles. Motor cars present the problem of allowing unauthorized persons to gain access thereto comparatively easily, even when the car is fitted with very advanced door locks. In addition, in most types of cars, the ignition lock, for which one and the same key is usually used to start the motor and to open the door lock, can as a rule be forced very easily and by passed by an unauthorized person, irrespective of the construction of the lock by simply shunt connecting the electric cables. In such cases, the problem therefore is not solved even when the lock is of a non-force type.
From DE Offenlegungsschrift 30 05 890 is known an electronic locking device which is intended to be used in motor cars. The key pertaining to the motor car ignition lock is provided with a transmitter which transmits a coded signal. In addition, the motor car is fitted with an electronic unit comprising a detector designed to receive the coded signal, a decoder means and an electronic coupling means which allows the motor to be started upon registration of an authorized or valid signal.